Pirro, André (Gabriel Edme)

Pirro, André (Gabriel Edme), distinguished French musicologist and organist; b. St.-Dizier, Haute-Marne, Feb. 12, 1869; d. Paris, Nov. 11, 1943. He first studied with his father, the local organist, then went to Paris, where he served as organist and maître de chapelle at the Collège Stanislas; also audited the organ classes given by Franck and Widor at the Paris Cons. (1889–91). He studied law at the Sorbonne and continued private studies in music; also studied in the faculty of arts in Nancy (1898–99). He received his doctorat es lettres from the Sorbonne in 1907 with the diss. L’Esthétique de Jean-Sébastien Bach (publ. in Paris, 1907), which was followed that same year by the supplementary diss. Descartes et la musique (publ. in Paris, 1907). When the Schola Cantorum was founded in 1896, he was made a member of its board of directors and prof. of music history and organ; was organist at St. Jean-Baptiste de Belleville (1900–1904); lectured on music history at the École des Hautes Études Sociales (1904–14); was prof. of music history at the Sorbonne (1912–37). His outstanding students included Plamenac, Machabey, Rokseth, and Pincherle. In addition to his valuable books, he wrote many important articles on various aspects of music.

Writings

L’Orgue de Jean-Sébastien Bach (Paris, 1895; Eng. tr., 1902); J.-S. Bach (Paris, 1906; 2^nd ed., 1949; Eng. tr., 1957); Dietrich Buxtehude (Paris, 1913); Schütz (Paris, 1913); Jean Sébastien Bach auteur comique (Madrid, 1915); Les Clavecinistes: Étude critique (Paris, 1924); La Musique a Paris sous le régne de Charles VI, 1380–1422 (Strasbourg, 1930); éd. with A. Gastoué et al., Bibliothèque nationale: La Musique française du moyen-âge à la Révolution (Paris, 1934); Histoire de la musique de la fin du XIV^esiècle à la fin du XVI^e (Paris, 1940); Mélanges: Recueil d’articles publié sous le patronage de la Société française de musicologie (Geneva, 1971).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire